[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 565: Mountain of Swords (4)

-What……?

Venura Garn blinked blankly.

It was the first time in his life he had heard such a crazy question.

“Twelve Sword Council means there are twelve of you, right? Then doesn’t that mean there are twelve weapon catalogs too?”

-Th-That’s…

Venura glanced up at the air, flustered, furrowing his brows before answering.

-I’m… not really sure about that.

“You’re not lying, are you? Since you’ve got no limbs left to cut off, should I start with your head?”

Yeongwoo shoved the Bastard roughly toward him, but Venura didn’t even flinch.

-We didn’t form the Council to trade catalogs. How could I know that? You wouldn’t know until you fought one yourself.

“What? The Twelve Sword Council members never fought each other? Don’t you at least establish some ranking?”

-Sometimes there’s a bit of a ‘quarrel,’ but official duels aren’t common.

“So they do happen sometimes.”

-We’re not exactly the roundest personalities.

Venura said this as he lay back on the ground.

Now a one-armed, one-legged man, it was awkward to even stay upright—so he just laid down.

“……”

Yeongwoo stared at the man for a moment, then tossed back the severed leg he’d cut off earlier.

Whoosh.

“Put that leg back on. You’ll need to move if we’re gonna find the next escape point.”

When Yeongwoo said that, Venura lifted his head slightly from the ground.

-Put my leg back on? How?

Then a violet bracelet flew toward his chest.

「Slime Core」 – Mutant Bracelet

【Regeneration ability increases exponentially.】

“Wear that. It’ll stick back soon enough.”

By then, far in the distance, an escape device had begun to rise.

The two one-eyed men, the Lagtari chef, and Alden Miras had succeeded in escaping.

-Why in the world did you let them go?

Venura asked as he reattached his leg, and Yeongwoo shrugged.

“They’d already been stripped clean.”

-……?

“Once they’ve ‘yielded’ enough to be penniless, there’s no need to kill them.”

Then Yeongwoo held up the curved sword he’d taken from Venura.

Shh.

「Karuga’s Rib」 – Legendary Curved Sword

【Reduces damage by 15% when blocking.】

【20% chance to evade detection.】

【25% increased damage against beasts.】

Venura’s weapon had a detection evasion effect.

Combined with his unique shoes, “Mirage,” the total detection evasion rate reached 50%.

「Mirage」 – Unique Shoes

【30% chance to evade detection.】

‘If evasion keeps stacking like this, it might actually become a real game changer.’

As Yeongwoo examined Karuga’s Rib carefully, Venura—still lying on the ground—raised a finger toward his sword.

-Isn’t that mine? You’re taking my catalog and my sword? That’s too much.

“Why? Isn’t saving the guy who almost died payment enough? Besides, that sword was part of your catalog.”

Shh.

The moment Yeongwoo registered the curved sword in his own catalog, Venura’s body trembled.

-…Ugh!

Then his eyes began to gleam with strange light.

Piiiaaat!

Just like Alden Miras before him, his Prestige Level was rising—

The reward for crossing blades with a Planetary Ship Owner.

“Here we go again.”

While Venura savored the thrilling surge of power, Yeongwoo gathered the scattered limbs on the ground.

‘Now I’ve got exactly one full set left.’

He currently had two arms and two legs in reserve.

That meant even if one more participant was still somewhere in this dungeon, he could help everyone escape.

“Alright, time to move. Can you stand?”

As Yeongwoo looked at the barrier slowly closing in, Venura—still with eyes glowing strangely—muttered in disbelief.

-Wh-what… is this? Planetary Ship Owner?

“How much did your Prestige Level rise?”

-2.1… How’s that even possible?

“What was your original level?”

-Th…

Venura began to answer instinctively, then shut his mouth.

He’d realized, too late, that he’d already given away too much information.

-You insane bastard.

What he had just seen was the system message.

「Duel with a Planetary Ship Owner +2.1」

A duel with a Planetary Ship Owner.

A title that existed only in books—and he had just fought one in person.

-You’re saying you’re a Planetary Ship Owner?

Venura’s face was as disbelieving as Alden’s had been, while Yeongwoo was busy doing mental math.

“2.1, huh… Then you’re stronger than Miras’ third son. You were probably in your high 30s, right?”

Alden’s Prestige had risen by 4.2 after his duel with Yeongwoo.

Before that, he’d been level 34.

“So that means even the strongest among the Twelve Sword Council are only in their early 40s.”

-What?

“Yeah. If even someone in their high 30s gets in, the average can’t be that high.”

When Yeongwoo casually dismissed the Twelve Sword Council, Venura ground his teeth.

-Reckless words. The only reason I bear that title is because of my family’s influence.

“So you’re a nepotism case—the weakest of the twelve, huh? You sure do talk a lot.”

-You… You’d never even—

He was about to say, You’d never even set foot near the Council, but stopped short.

After that Prestige increase, he had glimpsed Yeongwoo’s inner strength.

As unbelievable as it was, if the man really was a Planetary Ship Owner, that alone was an extraordinary background.

Purely in terms of power, he was comparable to those monstrous Council elites.

Even his insolent arrogance reminded Venura eerily of them.

“You know it too, right? You’ll never upgrade your catalog. The weakest member doesn’t get to borrow anyone else’s.”

Yeongwoo smirked.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

“So when you get out of here alive, tell your friends this—the man, Jeong Yeongwoo of the Renaissance, is looking for challengers.”

Venura gave a short, incredulous laugh.

-So the marvels of the universe drove you insane after all.

“You’re the one who looks deranged, idiot. Now hand over all your weapons.”

With that, Yeongwoo activated his weapon catalog and stepped closer.

“Don’t take it too personally. It’s better than dying, right? You can come for revenge later.”

Shhh.

As Yeongwoo raised the Bastard to confirm catalog transfer, Venura scowled.

-Filthy day indeed.

“I wasn’t born noble—every day’s filthy to me. Now stop yapping and authorize the transfer.”

-……

Venura stared at the glowing message before his eyes.

[Catalog Transfer]

|Transfer your catalog collection progress to another catalog of the same type.|

-Damn it.

With a short sigh, he authorized the transfer.

He had just ceded all his accumulated data to this lunatic.

「Catalog Transfer Approved.」

A notification appeared in Yeongwoo’s vision, and his catalog stats immediately surged.

「Weapon Catalog collection increased by 24.」

“Whoa.”

Even excluding the curved sword he’d taken earlier, that was 24.

Effectively, his collection had risen by 25.

[Weapon Catalog]

〔174〕

“One hundred seventy-four sword mountain…!”

As Yeongwoo shouted, nearing two hundred, Venura shut his eyes.

-……

There wasn’t a trace of a great warrior’s aura in that vulgar excitement—

So he simply closed his eyes.

Still, it was undeniable that he had lost.

Once again, he was reminded how vast the universe truly was.

There really were monsters like this out there.

-But… he has a Planetary Ship…?

Venura muttered to himself, and Yeongwoo somehow heard him.

“Anyway, the fact your Prestige Level rose means the system acknowledged it as a duel. Take pride in that.”

-What’s that supposed to mean?

“Everyone else I met—except Alden—showed no change. Guess the system didn’t count those as duels.”

In other words, simply attacking or being attacked by Yeongwoo wasn’t enough.

There had to be a minimum condition for something to qualify as a duel.

“So tell your buddies—if they’ve got the guts to ‘duel’ me, make an appointment.”

Yeongwoo said this while transmitting Earthship’s comm code to him.

Paaaat!

“We move around a lot, so we’re not easy to find. Make an appointment first if you want to see me.”

-‘We’…?

“Yeah, my crew’s gotten bigger lately. Anyway, don’t forget.”

Thud.

Yeongwoo patted Venura’s shoulder.

Venura stared blankly at the communication code floating in his display.

Most people would avoid any involvement with the Twelve Sword Council—

But this man was inviting their challenge.

-Where… is your ship drifting now?

Yeongwoo folded his arms, pretending to think.

“Hmm… I’d tell you, but our next destination’s not exactly safe.”

Their current heading: the Black Zone—

A criminal marketplace where the trade accident rate reached 58%.

“I’d love to face them all at once, but until I complete my Hundred Thousand Sword Mountain, it’ll have to wait.”

-So you do have a brain. You actually know fear.

“Fear? Of course I do. Only fools who don’t fear end up like you.”

-Yo…!

Unable to retort, Venura bared his teeth—then slumped back down.

Even with the Slime Core bracelet, his leg hadn’t fully reattached yet.

Meanwhile—

Sssaaaaat!

The barrier was still closing in.

The dungeon shutdown was still progressing.

“This time the space is shrinking a lot. Guess we’re in the final stage.”

Yeongwoo grabbed Venura from the ground.

Clack!

-Wh-What are you doing?!

“If you sit there, you’ll die. Someone’s got to make it back to the Twelve Sword Council, right?”

Yeongwoo planned to carry Venura until his leg finished reattaching.

Of course, Lady Kanaph—also riding on his back—would have to endure the inconvenience.

“The next escape point will likely be the last. The area’s gotten much smaller—if anyone else is here, we’ll probably spot them.”

Yeongwoo spoke lightly, and Lady Kanaph glanced up at the sky.

-Will I really make it home alive…? Judging by how you talk, things get worse after we leave this place.

“As expected of a learned woman.”

Unfortunately, once they escaped this dungeon, they’d head straight into the Black Zone—

a den of criminals.

For her, it would be quite the cultural shock.

“Alright, let’s move.”

Carrying two burdens on his back, Yeongwoo started walking.

Then, high above the dungeon, a massive system message appeared.

Beeeep!

「Remaining Participants: 4」

[Translator - Night]

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